Week Two

I believe the key messages from this weeks readings were… that a hands on, strategic approach to public relations is the only way to realistically prepare for the challenges and obstacles that one could face in professional practice these days. Strategy is the basis from which everything else grows in public relations. Without it there is uncertainty, distrust, and floundering action without a backup plan. Goals and aims are not met unless a strategic approach is utilized. This is where group work comes into play. Once a strategy is decided upon then a functional group is needed in order to carry it out to the end. Without a group that can work as a team and trust and depend upon one another the strategy is useless.

The readings made me think more about PR theory and practice in that… the whole process is completely integrated and if one part of the process fails then the rest comes falling down after it. There is no such thing as an individual success when you’re working as part of a functioning unit. Everyone needs to do well in each their own aspect of the strategy otherwise the whole group is pulled down.

Required reading for Week 2:

1. Allert, J. and Zawawi, C. (2004) Strategy, Planning and Scheduling. In J. Johnston,& C. Zawawi (eds.), Public relations: theory and practice (pp. 169-196). Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
2. Group work and Collaborative Writing - find this reading in Course Documents.
3. Introduction to Problem Based learning - see Course Documents